Unit 4 Vocab

Question 1

Sensation

Answer 1

The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment

Question 2

Perception

Answer 2

Process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events

Question 3

Bottom up processing

Answer 3

Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brains integration of sensory information

Question 4

Top down processing

Answer 4

Information processing guided by higher level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations

Question 5

Selective attention

Answer 5

The focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus

Question 6

Inattentional blindness

Answer 6

Failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere

Question 7

Change blindness

Answer 7

Failing to notice changes in the environment

Question 8

Psychophysics

Answer 8

The study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them

Question 9

Absolute threshold

Answer 9

The minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time

Question 10

Signal detection theory

Answer 10

Hey Siri predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus, signal, amid background stimulation, noise. Assumes there is no single absolute threshold and that detection depends partly on a person‘s experience, expectations, motivation, and alertness

Question 11

Subliminal

Answer 11

Below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness

Question 12

Priming

Answer 12

The activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one’s perception, memory, or response

Question 13

Difference threshold

Answer 13

The minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50% of the time. We experience the difference threshold as a just noticeable difference

Question 14

Weber’s law

Answer 14

The principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant percentage

Question 15

Sensory adaptation

Answer 15

Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of a constant stimulation

Question 16

Transduction

Answer 16

Conversion of one form of energy into another. In sensation, the transforming of stimulus energies, such as sights, sounds, and smells, into neural impulses our brain can interpret.

Question 17

Wavelength

Answer 17

The distance from the peak of one light or sound wave to the peak of the next. Electromagnetic wavelengths vary from the short blood of cosmic rays to the long pulses of radio transmission.

Question 18

Hue

Answer 18

The dimension of color that is determined by the wavelength of light; what we know as the color names blue, green, and so forth

Question 19

Intensity

Answer 19

The amount of energy in a light or sound wave, which we perceive as brightness or loudness, as determined by the wave’s amplitude

Question 20

Pupil

Answer 20

The adjustable opening in the center of the eye through which light enters

Question 21

Iris

Answer 21

The ring of a muscle tissue that forms the colored portion of the eye around the pupil and controls the size of the pupil opening

Question 22

Lens

Answer 22

The transparent structure behind the pupil that changed shape to help focus images on the retina

Question 23

Retina

Answer 23

The light sensing inner surface of the eye, containing the receptor rods and cones plus layers of neurons that begin the processing of visual information

Question 24

Accommodation

Answer 24

The process by which the eye’s lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina

Question 25

Rods

Answer 25

Retinal receptors that detect black, white, and gray; necessary for peripheral and twilight vision, when cones don’t respond

Question 26

Cones

Answer 26

Retinal receptor cells that are concentrated near the center of the retina and that function in daylight or in well lit conditions. The cones detect fine detail and give rise to color sensations

Question 27

Optic Nerve

Answer 27

The nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain

Question 28

Blind spot

Answer 28

The point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating a “blind” spot because no receptor cells are located there

Question 29

Fovea

Answer 29

The central focal point in the retina, around which the eye’s cones cluster

Question 30

Feature Detectors

Answer 30

Nerve cells in the brain that respond to specific features of the stimulus, such a shape, angle, or movement

Question 31

Parallel processing

Answer 31

The processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brains natural mode of information processing for many functions, including vision. Contrasts with the step-by-step processing of most common computers and of conscious problem-solving

Question 32

Young-Helmholtz trichromatic theory

Answer 32

The theory that the retina contains three different color receptors - one most sensitive to red, one to green, and one to blue - which, when stimulated in commission, can produce the perception of any color

Question 33

Opponent process theory

Answer 33

The theory that opposing retinal processes, I E red green, yellow blue, white black, enable color vision. For example, some cells are stimulated by green in habited by read; others are stimulated by red and inhibited by green

Question 34

Audition

Answer 34

The sense or act of hearing

Question 35

Frequency

Answer 35

The number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time

Question 36

Pitch

Answer 36

Tones experienced highness or lowness; depends on frequency

Question 37

Middle ear

Answer 37

The chamber between the eardrum and cochlea containing three tiny bones, hammer, anvil, and stirrup, that concentrate the vibrations of the eardrum on the cochlea‘s oval window

Question 38

Cochlea

Answer 38

A coiled, bony, fluid filled tube in the inner ear for which soundwaves trigger nerve impulses

Question 39

Inner ear

Answer 39

The innermost part of the ear, containing the cochlea, semi circle canals, and vestibular sacs

Question 40

Place theory

Answer 40

And hearing, the theory that links the pitch we here with the place where the cochlea‘s membrane a simulated

Question 41

Frequency theory

Answer 41

And hearing, the theory that the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, thus enabling us to sense it’s pitch

Question 42

Conduction hearing loss

Answer 42

Hearing loss caused by damage to the mechanical System that conducts soundwaves to the cochlea

Question 43

Sensorineural hearing loss

Answer 43

Hearing loss caused by damage to the cochlea‘s receptor cells or to the auditory nerves; also called nerve deafness

Question 44

Cochlear implant

Answer 44

Device for converting sounds into electrical signals and stimulating the auditory nerve through electrodes threaded in the cochlea

Question 45

Kinesthesis

Answer 45

The system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts

Question 46

Vestibular sense

Answer 46

The sense of body movement and position, including the sense of balance

Question 47

Gate-control theory

Answer 47

The theory that the spinal cord contains a neurological gate that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain. The gate is open by the small activity of pain signals traveling up the small nerve fibers and is close by activity and larger fibers or by containing information coming from the brain

Question 48

Sensory interaction

Answer 48

The principle that one sends me and close another, as won the smell of food influences it taste

Question 49

Gestalt

Answer 49

An organized whole. Guess Stolt psychologists emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful holes

Question 50

Figure ground

Answer 50

The organization of the visual field into objects, that stand up on their surroundings

Question 51

Grouping

Answer 51

The perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups

Question 52

Depth perception

Answer 52

Ability to see objects in three dimensions although the two objects that strike the retina are two dimensional; allows us to judge distance

Question 53

Visual cliff

Answer 53

Laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals

Question 54

Binocular cues

Answer 54

Depth cues, such as retinal disparity, that depend on the use of two eyes

Question 55

Retinal display

Answer 55

A binocular cue for perceiving depth. By comparing images from the retina in the two eyes, the brain computes distance, the greater the disparity between the two images, the Closer of the object

Question 56

Monocular cues

Answer 56

Depth cues, such as interposition and linear perspective, available to either I alone

Question 57

Phi phenomenon

Answer 57

And illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession

Question 58

Perceptual constancy

Answer 58

Perceiving objects as unchanging even as illumination and retinal image change

Question 59

Color constancy

Answer 59

Perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even when if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by the object

Question 60

Perceptual adaptation

Answer 60

Envision, the ability to adjust to an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field

Question 61

Perceptual set

Answer 61

A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another

Question 62

Extrasensory perception (ESP)

Answer 62

The controversy your claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input; includes telepathy, clarivoyance and precognition

Question 63

Parapsychology

Answer 63

The study of paranormal phenomena, including ESP and psychokinesis